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[series title=”This post is part of the How to Plan Your Food for a Backpacking Trip Series” title_wrap=”h5″ list=”ol” future=”off”]

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Pros

Easy access to water

Easy and gradual incline

Lots of established campsites

Cons

First 10 miles are pretty busy

Not for those afraid of heights

Bad parking lot at trailhead

Trip Details

My trip to Eagle Creek took place on May 19-22.

Average temperatures were 77 during the day and 44 at night. It felt much cooler, as most of the trail is in the shade.

I flew into Portland and rented a car for the 30 minute drive to the trailhead from the airport.

Water

Even though you are hiking alongside a creek, you gain elevation so quickly that you won’t always have easy access to the creek. That said, there are plenty of campsite along side the creek at various points along the trail.

Your main source of water will be runoff streams and creeks that cross the trail. The amount of water flowing depends on the snow melt that year, but you are likely to have ample opportunities to fill your water bottle.

I never carried more than 1 full water bottle as I was hiking. I would simply drink as much as I could when I came to a stream crossing and then put a empty water bottle back in my bag. There was just that much water. If I knew my campsite wasn’t going to be near water I would load up both water bottles when I got closer to camp.

I used a simple Sawyer Water Filter to clean my drinking water and boiled my water for cooking.

Bugs and Insects

I didn’t notice or have any issues with mosquitoes or any other type of insects. I did pack diet just in case, but left the head net at home.

Camping

There are a number of named and established campsites along the trail. Most of these camp sites are right next to water or just a few minutes walk to it.

Many of the campsites along the first 10 miles of trail will fill up very fast. You will want to plan to hit the trail no later than 10:00AM to help ensure you get a primo campsite.

One other thing to note is that many of the larger campsites will likely fill up with other backpackers, so don’t count on being alone often on this hike.

Notes on the established campsites:

7 1/2 Mile Camp
There is no sign stating which camp ground is actually the 7 1/2 Mile campsite. I can tell you that it is the second large campsite on the lefthand side of the trail after tunnel falls. There are a number of fallen trees to help separate the campsite into several smaller sites.

Before and after the official 71/2 mile campsite are a number of smaller more secluded sites. Some are a short walk off trail on the creekside.

There is easy access to the creek and a runoff stream from this campsite area.

Site near Waterfall
This site sits right next to the top of a waterfall can be a bit loud at night. Even though its next to the creek, it doesn’t have easy access to water. The site is very well packed down, so there are lots of roots. There is really only one good spot to pitch a tent, so you likely won’t having camping company. But, since the trail is so close to the waterfall and just off the main trail, you will have lots visitors walking through your campsite.